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Alapuzzha - Cochin - Gokarna - Agonda - Mumbai - Bangkok
We are in Bangkok and the sun has just come out after a downpour. It rained at the same time yesterday, as we made our way by taxi from the airport to the Khao San Road, a shock after the round-the-clock sunshine in India, but the heat is just as oppressive.
For anyone who has ever been to the Khao San Road, it's sort of the same as it was, but a lot bigger and louder. Alongside Boots, which was here when I last came 9 or so years ago, there is also a Burger King, McDonalds and even a Starbucks. But walk down one of the little lanes and allies that lead off the main drag and things feel more small scale and more Thai, and there are even a smattering of street eateries that Thais eat at - Chris and I ate noodles and fried rice at one of them today.
We left Mumbai early yesterday morning, after checking in at the ungodly time of 2.30am. I liked Mumbai, it was not at all what I expected - yes it was big and sprawling but at the same time realtively low-rise, with faded blocks of 1930s apartments and a string of cafes with a distinctly gallic feel - high celinings, whirring fans and clusters of tables and chairs and people chatting, drinking and eating below.
For anyone who has ever read Shantaram (if you haven't, do!) - we went to Leopold's and strolled up the Colaba Causeway, where Chris had his ears cleaned by a wandering ear-cleaner who, after expressing horror at the state of his lugholes (without giving you too much information, they are pretty waxy) wielded a long metal needle-type implement with which he extracted some of the most disgustingly coloured and textured sludge I have had the bad fortune to see. Chris can now hear much more clearly, although, like the old man at the beginning of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, he may live to regret it. We also plodded past the Gate to India and sat among the hoards at Chowpatty Beach on a typically busy Sunday afternoon.
I last wrote in Alappuzha, down in Kerala, one the eve of our trip on the backwaters. The whole experience was fantastic - like canal boating but much more sophisticated. The houseboat we were on had two bedrooms with bathrooms, a kitchen at the back and a large living area at the front with room to eat, sit, slouch and watch the world go by. They are made of bamboo and reeds and wood shaped into soft arches. We ate some of the best food we had in Kerala - kingfish with dahls and cabbage salads and curries and big fat Keralan rice, with poppadums and chappatis on the side. In the evening we had a hot chircken curry and giant king prawns cooked in chilli, butter and garlic that we'd bought from a fisherman who pulled up alongside out boat. We spent the night moored in a wide stretch of water and went to sleep - aided by Indian rum - to the sounds of water lapping around us. We woke as the sun rose to the sound of drumming from a temple somewhere around us.
Kerala had a real mix of religions - we passed Syrian orthodox churches, Baptist churches, Catholic churches, hindu temples and mosques. After reluctantly leaving the boat the following morning, we took a bus north to Cochin, the old island city in the north that has seen Dutch, Jewish, Portuguese and British influence and has a sleepy European feel as a result. We strolled past white churches and synagogues and ate freshly caught red snapper and king prawns bought from fisherman by the old chinese fishing nets, cooked for us at a nearby restaurant.
We took the train from Cochin to northern Karnataka, leaving at 3pm and arriving at 4am, it was hot and sticky but going sleeper class (no air con) means you have the chance to talk to, and be talked to by, all sort of people. A group of student vets showed me all their holiday snaps while our neighbours photographed us with their mobiles. We took a taxi from Kumta to Om Beach, near Gokarna, our luggage precarious on top, while chanting music blasted through the darkness. Indians like music and they like it very very loud.
Gokarna is one of southern India's most spiritual towns - a dozen or so temples dot the landscape around the town. Shamefully, we were a little templed out and devoted most of our time to the more unholy, but no less godly, pirsuits of lying around on the beautiful beaches, swimming and eating. We stayed in concrete-floored huts a good 15 minutes walk along the coast after the road ends and spend out night tucked fiercely in under our mosquito nets: while we contended with a couple of cockroaches and spiders (big enough to make Chris squeal. Lucy was walking past at the time and thought it was me), Fred had to contend with a scorpion that fell through the thatched ceiling on to the pillow of the bed. Luckily he wasn't in it at the time.
From Gokarna we took another train to another beach - back to Agonda , in southern Goa, for a day and a half, to break our journey back to Mumbai. It was good to be back - not least because of the souvlaki, and we were sad to leave early on Saturday to take the day train to Mumbai (the night train was booked for months in advance).
We will be in Bangkok for a few days planning our itinerary, sorting out visas and maybe some local flights. We've yet to agree the final details but I think we're going to be going to Cambodia, then Laos, then possibly Burma, then to southern Thailand and through Malaysia (via the Perhentian Islands off the north east coast) and down to Singapore for our flight to Indonesia. Fred's mum and sister are coming out to see him in Bali, so Chris and I are considering delaying our flight and joining him and Lucy at the end of the visit, which will give us a bit more time in this part of the world.
Will add some more photos next time xx
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